Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Summer Reading

The Blogging Tories have a reading room up on their site (featuring...yes...Adam Smith).

Since I don't intend to read a ton of Milton Friedman anytime soon (unless the government makes me), I felt it might be a good idea to toss up a Liberal reading room. These are all books I've read over the past few years and enjoyed quite a bit. Feel free to recommend any others since I could use a little summer reading.

From the Chapter's Review Page: "A complete waste of time. Kinsella is clinically insane." If you're Paul Martin or Stockwell Day, you might tend to agree with that review. Otherwise, you'll find it a fun read and you might even learn something about Canadian politics.

Absolutely brilliant! Franken turns the words of the American right against them...with hilarious consequences. The "Supply Side Jesus" cartoon is still one of the best pieces of political satire I've ever seen.

Clarkson charts the Liberal Party's dominance from 1968 to 2004, through a series of election essays. Even Tories may like this one since Clarkson is often critical of the Liberal Party, and is downright vicious towards Turner and Martin.

A not too surprisingly folksy book which gives a lot of insight into what makes Jean Chretien tick. People often forget everything Chretien did before becoming PM and, truth be told, it's probably more interesting than what he did as Prime Minister.

If you have a few hundred hours to kill, the book makes for a fascinating read and you can learn a lot about American politics in the 80s and 90s. I'd recommend skipping the first 300 pages unless you're really curious about what lessons Bill Clinton learned in Grade 9 band camp.

There are a million books about Trudeau the politician you can read and, truth be told, none of them have ever stood out to me above the rest. The reason I include this one on my list is that it looks into the personal side of Trudeau's life and has anecdotes provided by a wide range of people from Jimmy Carter to Barbara Streisand.

Far be it from me to speak glowingly of any members of the Board, but John Duffy does a good job charting key elections in Canadian history. The pictures and battle plans he includes add a lot to the book.

Trudeau was a bastard. Clark was a bonehead. I'd say the jury is still out on Harper, but he's looking more like a "bastard" so far. This book is just funny and a good way to read up on Canadian history for those who aren't big on academic reads.

Another piece of non-fiction which makes for an enjoyable read. Bowering's prelude to the Mulroney chapter where he tells the story of wanting to replace the entire chapter with "the less said about this, the better", is hilarious and he does a good job mixing in poems, jokes, and anecdotes. Bonus marks for giving equal ink to the Mackenzies, Tuppers and Bowels (that one came out kind of wrong...d'oh) of the world.

28 Comments:

For insight into the west's trials and tribulations in the Middle East, I recommend Robert Fisk's, "Pity the Nation". Have not read his latest opus. Malcolm Gladwell's, "Blink" was an entertaining read and "Nelson's Purse" by Martyn Downer is a must read for cool Britannia enthusiasts.

meanwhile, back in the real world, the Liberal Party of Canada uses power tools to dig their grave deeper & deeper

Liberals refuse to investigate Volpe donations

The national Liberal Party said yesterday it has no reason to investigate donations to leadership candidate Joe Volpe from current and former executives of a generic drug firm and their relatives, but some Liberal MPs said they have qualms about accepting money from minors.

I enjoy the mental image of a young Conservative on the beach in a 3 piece suit, drinking a Belini and enjoying some summer Fredrick Hayek reading.

I have to also say that the Politics of Ambition is another great politcal book. Plus with we Liberals going into a leadership convention I think we can learn from Brian Mulroney's excellent use of homeless people as delegates.

I'm going to echo the "too shallow" comment above. I actually read "On Liberty" last month and enjoyed it. I think Machiavelli "The Prince" is a must read, and you can get it free on the internet. Adam Smith is the foundation of modern economics, but "incisive prose?" Wasn't he sort of rambling? An introductory microeconomics text will tell you most of what you need to know, and more than Smith ever figured out.

I don't think it would hurt to have some economics in the liberal reading list, too. I don't understand why people associate it with conservatives.

It's be nice to get some political theory in there, too. I haven't read anything that I'd recommend, though. Anyone else?

I picked up Warren's book at a second hand shop last summer. Based on reading it, I DON'T think he's insane... he's figured out a lot about politics in Canada, and politicians ignore its lessons at their peril.

A REALLY interesting read. I've become a fan of his, and I'm looking forward to any other political works he puts out.

"Postwar" by Tony Judt is on my to-read list. Finally finished Robert Dallek's "An Unfinished Life," one of the better biographies I've read on JFK. I'm still trying to plow through "Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy." Anything by Niall Ferguson who, despite his deep love of the British Empire (ahem), is nothing if not thorough in his research, provocative as it is.

As for fiction, I just finished "Legends" by Robert Littel, and I'm working on "Market Forces" by Richard Morgan. It's a sci-fi (not big on those, but this one is cool).

Anything by Robert Kaplan. I'm looking forward to Imperial Grunts, his study of the American military in its present form as Bush aims to expand US imperialism.

I'm quite familiar with Bastards and Boneheads, it's a personal favourite of mine on Canadian politics, and you're absolutely wrong - Harper is one hundred percent Bastard, and no jury is out on him. What a terrific surprise to see you include this wonderful book!

To throw a slightly odd choice out there, I'd recomend Duceppe's "Question D'Identité" as an interesting view of Quebec sovereignty. I'm currently reading it and while I don't agree with a lot of his views it's still a very interesting book.

Insofar as economics is concerned, a good pick is "The Efficient Society" by Joseph Heath. I have a few issues with it, but it's an excellent (and convincing) response to the orthodox free marketers. I'd also take issue with the Blogging Tories seeming attempt to claim some classics of political philosophy of them - "On Liberty" is worthy of anyone's attention.

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